Big Sur – Crews began the process Tuesday of launching steel girders for the new Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, which officials said may not be open until October.

(Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

“Right now, this operation is kind of an unknown for us,” said David Galarza, Caltrans’ structure representative for the project. “We have a schedule and we have predicted time frames, but because it’s kind of a new operation, it’s a bit of an unknown. We’re probably going to be (working) into October.”

According to Galarza, this is the first time crews have used this method to launch girders and build a bridge in California.

“This method is used extensively in Europe and also in Canada,” he said.

Bob Riggins, an assistant structure representative for MNS Engineers, said he thinks the remaining work should take a month to six weeks.

After the girder launching is complete “the bridge will be in a position where we can jack it up, remove all the (temporary structures) that it’s riding on now and set it down,” he said. “Then we’ll begin the normal business of putting the bridge deck on, guardrails, paving the road, striping.”

Crews built a temporary tower at the center of the canyon to support the weight of the girders as they are launched across the gap. Rollers and guides atop the tower reduce friction and ensure the girders are properly aligned as they are pulled across. Rollers are also in place on the abutments on both sides of the canyon.

The two jacks began to buzz as they spooled up to pull the 310-foot steel girders from north to south across the canyon. Each of the synchronized jacks can pull up to 235 tons. The dead weight of the girders is 900 tons and the pulling force is about 100-110 tons. Galarza said each of the jacks are strong enough to support the entire weight of the girders, in the case of catastrophic failure of one of the jacks.

(Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

The motion of the jacks pulling cables connected to the girders, to launch them across the canyon, takes place in such a deliberate fashion it can be hard to notice without focusing.

“It’s a slow process,” Galarza said. “You’re pulling 18 inches at a time and it pulls very slowly, which is what we want.”

While many of the individual tasks are slow and meticulous, Riggins said crews are trying to do what would normally be a seven-year project in about seven months.

“So far, so good,” he said early Tuesday afternoon. “Everything’s done exactly what it should do. It’s slow and tedious, but we’ve made it to the center tower so we’re basically halfway.”

Caltrans had been aiming to open the bridge in mid or late September. Galarza said he couldn’t point to anything in particular that led to it likely being delayed to October.

Crews demolished the old Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in March after a landslide caused the bridge’s support columns to fail. The new span, which is made of 15 steel segments, is estimated to cost $24 million. Big Sur destinations south of Pfeiffer Canyon are accessible via Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. People can also take a shuttle from Andrew Molera State Park to the canyon, walk across a trail and catch a shuttle on the south side of the canyon to access parts of Big Sur.

In addition to the bridge outage at Pfeiffer Canyon, just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Highway 1 in Big Sur remains closed at Salmon Creek near the San Luis Obispo County border due to the massive Mud Creek slide.

Tommy Wright can be reached at 831-726-4375.

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Crews from several fire departments are battling a major grass fire late Saturday afternoon that has claimed at least 500 acres in a rural area in Solano County between Vacaville and Winters, and is prompting mandatory evacuations, firefighters said.